Structuralism in Literature: An Introduction

by Robert Scholes

From time to time a current of thought sweeps through a culture and moves its most disparate elements in the same direction. Such a current is structuralism. Reacting against "modernist" alienation and fragmentation, it is an integrative and holistic way of looking at the world; it seeks reality not in individual things but in the relationships among them. Its aim, says Robert Scholes, is nothing less than the unification of all the sciences into a new system of belief.
The impact of structuralism on literature and literary study is the concern of this extraordinarily lucid book. Mr. Scholes explores the linguistic background of structuralism, its historical connections to romanticism and Russian formalism, and the theory and practice of the leading contemporary structuralist literary critics.
"In Scholes’s book we have beautifully lucid, and at the same time intelligently critical, accounts of such areas of controversy as Jakobson and Riffaterre on Baudelaire’s Les Chats ; Jolles’s Simple Forms and the drama speculations of Souriau; Propp on the folktale . . . and other Russian ‘formalist’ critics; Lévi-Strauss on myth; Greimas, Bremond and Todorov on narrative structure and Barthes and Genette on analysis of the meaning-structure of a literary text. . . . Those already persuaded of the importance of the field will see this book as . . . perhaps the most valuable general work available."
-- Times Higher Education Supplement

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Philosophy

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Robert E. Scholes was an American literary critic and theorist. He is known for his ideas on fabulation and metafiction.

Reviews

[Ian Caveny · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a day and age when the word "structuralism" is treated - inappropriately - with the same distrust as "Cartesian rationalism," it feels like Scholes' overview of the philosophical movement's influence on literary theory is much needed. To escape structuralism is a foolish gesture in the modern academy, as our post-structuralist and deconstructionist tendencies are founded in its premises.

Scholes provides a suitable backdrop for the important moments of the field: Piaget, Lévi-Strauss, the Russian Formalists, Propp, Barthes, Genette, Bremond, and so on. He even brings to light a few of the lesser-known structuralist-narratologists like Souriau and Greimas whose influence is nevertheless still felt. In the last chapter, Scholes performs his own structural analysis on the British Romantics and Ulysses - two subjects that test the structuralist hypothesis. His analysis is actually quite sustainable! In so doing, Scholes masterfully counters the argument that structuralism is "dry scientism", and brings to light the hidden poetry of the method.

My one grumbling with the book - and this is true for most other summations of structuralist thought as well - is his handling of Lévi-Strauss. By overemphasizing the conclusion of Lévi-Strauss' "Structural Approach to Myth", he misses out on the more exciting conversation the French anthropologist brings regarding myth and language - something that Barthes would later emphasize as well in his "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative." This common misreading - in my opinion - of the Lévi-Strauss essay unfortunately diminishes the value of his influence on structuralism as a whole. The bibliography corrects this, in a way, but briefly and fleetingly.

Altogether, Scholes collection is a useful starting point for those interested in narrative theory and modern structuralism. It provides all of the necessary background.

[Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

اثری جامع و مروری بر تاریخ ساختارگرایی از بوطیقای ارسطو تا فرمالیست های روس و ساختارگرایان متاخر تر چون بارت و ژنت. برای آشنایی با نقد ادبی و ساختارگرایی خیلی خوبه که قبل از خوندن آثار اصلی یک چنین کتاب مروری ای رو بخونیم تا دید کلی تری داشته باشیم. به شخصه خوندن این کتاب از سه ماه نشستن سر کلاس نقد ادبی در دانشگاه مفید تر بود!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biçimlendiremediklerimiz biçim oluyor bize.

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

بهترین منبع برای آشنایی با ساختارگرایی

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another required book for the Literary Theory class at Penn State.